The self-proclaimed godfather of post-apocalyptic RPGs returns in Wasteland 2: Director’s Cut now available on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One after last year’s acclaimed PC release.

Strong adaptation of an RPG classic

The game has gone through a complete visual overhaul; it features a more sophisticated lighting system, upgraded environments and improved textures as well as brand new, higher quality character models.

In truth Wastelands is a tricky game to review because just as it was getting going i would hit a dead end and be asking myself whether it was just down to me or the game itself.

Graphically it has certainly been upscaled. Shadows, lighting, scenery, effects and character motion are so smooth.

You start out by creating your own ranger or selecting from pre mades but I would recommend making your own as there are a wide range of options. You then get to create or select three team mates and although I chose pre mades I would again recommended making your own to ensure they are all very different when it comes to the skills and abilities in your armoury.

Within the first 20 minutes or so I found myself with a large amount of quests which have a basic text in the log book but never seem to go into enough detail to enable you to walk to the area and carry out the task. You are always searching.

This meant I found myself in a lot of dead ends for a while which although frustrating were not impossible situations to get out of.

When trying to complete a quest - let’s say for example you have to save someone - if you get to them and kill the enemy and then try your surgeon skill to try and revive them it can sometimes fail. Then because they die it causes a chain reaction through the quest line. For one particular quest this then caused the quest giver to attack me when I returned and upon killing them it meant I had to alter the way I completed the main objective.

Some people will enjoy this and some will just find it frustrating it all depends on the gamer.

The tutorial system was fairly minimal which makes you try out a lot of different options when confronted with a locked door or loot crate. There are plenty of skills, perks and other abilities to learn and a lot of weapons to use.

In summary Wastelands looks great and is vast but general pathfinding is a major issue as well as the load time for each encounter. In fact there is a load time for every new area you enter and even a small one for traversing into a building.

There is also a lot of reading to be done and as most npc’s have a range of questions you can ask them which will also change as you level abilities. Tiny on screen text does not help in that respect and is another bugbear.